Rural jobs scheme leading to dearth of labour in plantation

The planters' body seeks extension of rural employment scheme to various works in plantation sector

Despite high wages, the plantation sector is facing an acute shortage of workers. For coffee plantations, the issue is more acute because here, planters need more workers during the picking season.

Due to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a large number of plantation workers were leaving their traditional employers, said G J Ancheril, president of the United Planters’ Association of South India (Upasi). “The government should seriously consider the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on commerce under the chairmanship of Shantha Kumar, member of Parliament, which had recommended an extension of MGNREGS works in coffee plantations and the items of work such as construction of water tanks, ground water and soil management work, instead of suspending or withdrawing the scheme,” he said.

Of about 1.66 million growers and 2.36 million labourers working across plantations in India, 77.1 per cent of the growers and 56.9 per cent of the labourers are from the South. About 1.28 million growers cultivate the plantation crop in the South across 1.13 million hectares, providing round-the-year employment to 1.35 million labourers. The total area under plantation crops is estimated at 1.77 million hectares, marginally less than two per cent of the total cropped area in India.

“It is a fact that migrant labourers are engaged in large numbers and they do not stick to a particular estate; they keep moving from one place to another frequently. They are opposing deduction towards provident fund. They want the gross amount in their hands and this has become a big problem for planters, who are forced to implement the provisions of the Employees’ Provident Fund Act,” Ancheril said.

In a submission to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Upasi urged the qualifying period of service---60-day attendance within three months---be made applicable to the plantation industry. “Though there are difficulties to mechanise many of the operations in plantations, concerted efforts are being made at various levels to increase mechanisation wherever possible to overcome the acute shortage of workers. The government should extend concessional import duty for import of some of the machinery used in the plantations,” Ancheril said. He added the coffee sector was facing challenges such as over-production in major coffee producing countries and escalating costs of inputs, while productivity had stagnated.

Coffee was the only crop to report lower yields during the last 50 years, compared to other coffee growing countries such as Vietnam and Brazil, Ancheril said, adding research and development in the Indian coffee sector was inadequate. Pointing to the delay in finalising schemes under the 12th five-year Plan, he urged the government the Quality Upgradation and Product Diversification Scheme of the Tea Board be continued, as it had helped the tea sector improve the quality of tea produced in India.